TWELVE:

It was dark when they got out of detention because it was still winter and Berk was northerly and cold. Astrid had phoned her mother to explain and after her initial disappointment, she understood why her daughter had gotten into trouble. Finn had been serious, outraged and amused in equal parts, advising her to learn from the experience and telling her how proud he was of her for standing up for her friend. Unsure what to make of the endorsement, he had paused.

"You are a straight A student, Astrid," he said. "You are kind and decent and brave and fierce. You don't breaks rules for the sake of it-but you stood up for your friend and for the decent and right thing to do. And people who pretended to be your friend don't even understand why that is important. But you did strike another student, so the punishment is justified, no matter the reason. behind that. And you won't get another detention before your school time is done-so use it as experience. Consider how you could have handled it better. And what you can do if the situation arose in the future."

"But it will be on my record," she murmured.

"And you can explain it if anyone asks," he reassured her. "Your father and I got up to much worse, I can tell you. But sometimes, doing something out of character and gaining an experience you otherwise would never have is a good thing in the long run. All experiences contribute to the person you become-and the memories of this, I think, will be valuable."

Hiccup was curiously more upset that Astrid, for his father was very invested in his son's record as a student. And though he was hiding it, he was nervous how Stoick would react. Not that he expected his father to be there, since Stoick Haddock had a trip booked to Copenhagen to extol the virtues of Berk as a potential wild camping venue for the summer season and should be gone. So it was shock when he pulled up to the house with Astrid and Heather to find Stoick's huge bronze SUV still parked on the drive-alongside a beat-up orange pick-up truck that bore the peeling legend 'GOBBER'S GARAGE'. Rolling his eyes, he rested his head on the steering wheel and muttered 'Oh Thor."

Astrid frowned.

"What is it?" she asked, reading his reaction. Hiccup straightened up like a shot.

"Um...nothing?" he tried, his voice an octave higher than usual. Astrid chuckled.

"You are the worst liar in history," she told him smugly. His eyes widened.

"Am not!"

"Are too!" Astrid retorted. "Okay-spill, Hiccup. It can't be that bad..." He gulped.

"No-it's worse," he explained, gesturing at the cars. She tilted her head. "My Dad is home...and Gobber."

"Gobber?"

"My godfather. Gordon 'Gobber' Belcher, mechanic extraordinaire. Owner of Gobber's Garage-officially the best garage in the Archipelago 2001-18, don't you know. And more importantly, he's a crazed two-limbed meat-headed lunatic with no filter, no boundaries and who loves to embarrass me..." Hiccup groaned. "Could we just stay in the car?"

"No. It's freezing in here," Astrid said and opened the door. "Come on, Babe-you can do this..." Glancing up, Hiccup shook his head firmly.

"Um, no I can't," he said with certainty. "I mean, I turn up late from school after my first ever detention with two beautiful Seniors...my Dad and Gobber will never let me live it down. Well, maybe when I hit eighty, they may ease up. A little. Possibly..." Astrid started at him and then shared a glance at Heather, who was grinning.

"You know, he did just compliment us," the raven-haired girl told her. Hiccup groaned by unfastened his safety belt and slowly got out of the car.

"Yeah," he said miserably. "Maybe I should have stayed in the Gym, hiding..." Astrid walked round and took his hand.

"I'll protect you from the big bad godfather,' she promised but he sighed.

"He's not bad-he does love me...he just loves to embarrass me more..." he sighed. "And Dad..."

"Should I be worried?" Astrid asked as Heather clambered out. Shaking his head, Hiccup clicked the key fob and the locks clicked shut.

"No...he means well...he's just going to be hugely excited," he mumbled as they walked slowly to the front door. "I mean, I've never actually brought a girl home before...and now I've brought two...sorry, Heather...he'll start making cracks about a harem..." She burst out laughing.

"I hope not," she chuckled. "I mean, you are sweet, Hiccup-but not my type." His eyes widened and then he blushed at his presumption.

"Oh Thor...sorry..." he mumbled but she patted him on the arm gently.

"Don't worry," she reassured him. "It's just...I'd rather go out with Astrid than with you!" He stared at her and blushed even more.

"Sorry!" he yelped but she smiled.

"It's okay," she told him."Astrid isn't into girls so I think you may be in luck..."

"SON!" A voice boomed through the icy drizzle and all three teens looked up to see a huge shape filling the doorway. Stoick was six foot ten, about four hundred pounds and Vast in every sense of the word, his powerful shoulders and muscular limbs straining against his casual clothing, flaming red head framing a face not too unlike Hiccup's with the same nose and a pair of friendly grey-green eyes and the most magnificent braided red beard that covered his upper chest as well. Hiccup managed a small wave.

"Hey, Dad," he said.

"Come in out of the cold-you'll catch your death and...bring your...friends?" The booming voice sounded surprised and a big grin lit the man's face. "Please- come in. I'm Stoick, Hiccup's Dad!" Astrid and Heather sped in out of the inclement weather, Astrid hauling the reluctant Hiccup along and smiled as he closed the door behind them.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr Haddock," Astrid said, stepping forward and offering her hand. "I'm Astrid Hofferson-Hiccup's girlfriend!"

Hiccup stiffened. It was the first time anyone had said it about him and he was torn between astonished delight and utter embarrassment. Stoick chuckled and shook her hand firmly.

"Stoick. And I'm pleased to meet you too, lass. I've worried about Hiccup," he said, taking their coats and hanging them up to dry. "He lost lot of his confidence with the accident and the way his so-called friends treated him certainly didn't help. I'm really pleased he has someone on his side..."

"Not awkward at all, Dad," Hiccup grumbled as Stoick wrapped a warm hug around his son.

"I was worried, son," he revealed. "You're much later than usual and I know you weren't with your friends because you always text Gobber or me to let us know."

"Haha...well, you see...that's the funny thing...they're coming round here at about five thirty...I was going to order in pizzas...and Astrid, Heather and I have just got out of detention..." Hiccup felt his father stiffen and the smile fell from his face.

"Son?" The tone was cautious, not condemning which still make the young man feel bad. "What happened?"

"Excuse me, sir-but Hiccup wasn't to blame," Astrid offered. "Some boys...the so-called friends you referred to...thought it would be hilarious to steal his prosthetic to make him crawl or hop into the Gym class." Stoick's face rapidly turned red with anger.

"WHAT?" he bellowed. Hiccup nodded.

"Yeah...I felt the same," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. He hated looking weak or helpless in front of his father, even though there was nothing he could have done to prevent what happened. "Astrid was awesome-she stood up for me. And then when she was given detention for shoving Snot off the bench to get the prosthetic back, I kinda lost it and attacked Eret who was being a total ass and then Thug and Heather joined in and well...detention..."

"You got in a brawl and..." Stoick blinked. "SNOTLOUT? Your own COUSIN did this?" Hiccup, Astrid and Heather nodded. The raven-haired girl stood forward.

"Heather Oswaldson," she introduced herself. "Yeah. Those guys are a disgrace. My brother, Dagur, used to be one of them, but he's ditched them since Saturday..."

"When there was another brawl at the dance..." Stoick muttered. And then his face lit in a huge smile and he threw an enormous hug around all three teens. "That's such a relief. Odin Almighty! I worried you were never going to show your Viking tendencies! But brawling, fighting for what's right...standing up for your girl...I'm proud of you, son..."

"Dad...can't breathe..." Hiccup gasped as his father released them with an embarrassed chuckle. Staggering and taking a deep breath, the auburn-haired teen looked up in shock. "What? You're not angry I got detention?" Stoick shook his head.

"No," he said. "Well, I would be if it was for something serious. But this...is vindication the old Haddock genes are alive and kicking in my son! Oh Thor! It's a great day!"

"Not the reaction I was imagining..." Hiccup admitted sotto voce and Astrid smothered a giggle as a head poked round the door at the far end of the oak hallway. A solid man with a bald head, long braided blond moustache, thick blond unibrow and twinkling blue eyes looked curious.

"What's the fuss?" a broad Berkian accent demanded.

"Hiccup's had his first detention, Gobber!" Stoick explained in an excited and very proud voice. The other man cracked a grin.

"Finally!" he said, his tone satisfied. "I thought he's never show any of the old Haddock disregard for rules..."

"Oh, I respect rules," Stoick began. Gobber wagged a finger.

"Just not when they get in yer way, right Stoick?" he teased his friend. And then he chuckled. "And I see the lad has brought his own harem..."

"Told you," Hiccup muttered as a black dog bounded down the staircase, knocking him to the ground. "TOOTHLESS! Hey, boy-glad to see you too. Promise you won't embarrass me as well?" The dog licked him feverishly and then lay straight in top of him as Hiccup wrapped his arms around the shollie, hugging him happily. "Astrid, Heather-meet Toothless, my dog. Toothless-these are friends..." Instantly, the dog got up and started sniffing at the newcomers, especially trying to nudge his nose firmly into their rears. Hiccup dropped his head back onto the floor. "And it's officially a full house. Toothless! Stop sniffing them!" Astrid giggled and fussed the eager mutt.

"He's adorable," she commented happily as the wagging tail knocked off the photographs on the hall table.

"Come in, come in," Stoick invited them, grabbing his son's hand and hauling Hiccup up off the floor and then retrieving the photos which were unharmed. "I'll get you some drinks while you wait for your other friends to arrive. We have soda, juice, water, coffee, tea, my special hot chocolate-a really winner, if I do say so myself-and milk. And there are some special pistachio and chocolate cookies left as well..." Hiccup gaped.

"Dad?" he murmured. Stoick grinned.

"I'm settling back home for good-so we can finally spend more time together, son," he said with a chuckle. "Won't that be good?" Hiccup nodded.

"Yeah," he said and then he offered a small smile. "Actually...yeah..." Stoick wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders and gave him a gentle squeeze.

"I know I haven't been much of a father-and I certainly haven't been there as much as you needed this last year or so-but now I have finished what I needed to do. I am settling back on Berk as Development and Foreign Affairs Minister and though there will be a bit more travel, at least I can be home most evenings to make sure that you aren't alone." Hiccup felt his face stretch in a smile. He didn't want much out of life as far as family was concerned-but this was exactly what he had dreamed of. And seeing him look happier than she had seen him, Astrid smiled as well.

"Hofferson..." Stoick murmured. "Do ye know a Finn Hofferson, lass?"

"My Uncle," she confirmed with a smile.

"How is old Finn? We were at school together. He was just as much of a scamp as Gobber and I were..."

"You can ask him yourself," Astrid told him. "He's on Berk and will be collecting me when we've finished here..." Stoick's eyes widened and he grinned.

"Gobber? Finn's on Berk!" Stoick said cheerfully.

"That scoundrel?" Gobber asked, his face covered in a big grin. "I thought he'd be in Hollywood with his fancy friends..." Astrid smiled.

"I think he's home with a spicy meatfeast, extra-large with added meatballs and mushrooms," Astrid explained as Gobber and Stoick shared a look.

"Have ye got his number, lass?" Stoick asked. "I can give him a call and see if he wants to share a beer with two old schoolmates...?" Smiling, Astrid scribbled it down.

"I'll text him to warn him," she offered she slid the paper over to Gobber, who was holding his smartphone very carefully in his prosthetic hand.

"I've broken so many of these damned things," he grumbled as he peered over half-moon glasses at her writing. "Is that a three or an eight, lass?"

"It's a five,' she told him with a huff. Hiccup sniggered and peered over.

"Are you sure that isn't a six?" he teased her. She growled.

"Mr Sassy-you are skating on thin ice," she told him.

"Seven?"

"That doesn't look anything like a seven! And that ice is getting thinner by the second..."

"I can't skate either-no ankle," he told her gently and she sighed, her cheeks warming with a shamed blush.

"Sorry," she apologised but he chuckled.

"I supposed I could make a skating prosthesis...though I'd probably break my knee or something if I tried..."

"So the ice dancing date is out of the window then?" Astrid replied with a small smile.

"Hey-I'm terrible at dancing on non-icy land," he reminded her. "I look like a Dad dancing..."

"I'll have you know, I'm a fine dancer!" Stoick put in with a grin, tapping a huge tankard of beer against that of Gobber, who appeared to have swapped his prosthetic hand for a traditional Viking litre tankard. "Ah..you should have seen yer Mom and I, twirling around the floor in the old fashioned dances...and the folk dances...and line dances...and hoe downs...and did I mention the Ceilidh? Oh that was a great one...yer Mom and I were the winners of the best dancing couple so many times..."

"Oh Thor," Hiccup groaned and massaged his forehead. "Now we'll never hear the end of it..."

"Are they like this all the time?" Gobber asked Heather, who was enjoying a 'Stoick Special' hot chocolate. She wiped off her cream moustache and nodded.

"They just hit it off instantly," she told him easily. "I mean, it was like they were meant to be together. And honestly, I'm glad because she hasn't had it easy the last few years since her Dad died and Hiccup has been a pariah since he lost his leg..." Gobber gave a pensive sigh.

"Aye...there are some people out there who seem to glory in being cruel to people for losses that aren't their own fault...and I guess both of them have suffered from the same unfair treatment..." Eyes widening, Heather nodded slowly.

"I hadn't really thought if it like that but I guess you're right," she admitted, licking chocolate shavings off the whipped cream. "And that makes me feel even worse." Gobber nodded wisely as the doorbell sounded.

"It's not what ye did in the past, m'dear, it's how you go forward and treat them from now on," he said sagely as Stoick got up to answer the door. Swiftly, the kitchen was filled with the twins, Fishlegs and Dagur, all greeting their friends, officially meeting Stoick and Gobber and deciding what they wanted to order for pizzas. Stoick generously made the order, added wedges, garlic bread, salads, mac and cheese, nachos, dips, ice creams and several large bottles of cola and then paid before he and Gobber decamped to the den, the second sitting room at the far end of the house where the two would eat their pizzas, enjoy a few beers and watch the game. And Stoick said he would phone Finn to see if he fancied joining them.

Sitting round the kitchen table with his friends, Hiccup felt a small surge of relief. School had been incredibly stressful and he had been on edge with the way the jocks had targeted him. Dagur was immensely apologetic but explained that he had been out of school in the afternoon, at an interview for his Scholarship at Archipelago University. He had gone straight to the gym to get in a good workout which had been one of the key ways he had helped manage his mental health problems along with some medications and he apologised profusely that he hadn't been there to stop the others. Touched and shocked, Hiccup had instantly forgiven him and explained there really was nothing to forgive. Then Astrid sighed.

"We have to do something," she said. Ruff nodded.

"She's not wrong," she added. "Atali and Mindy have moved on. The Junior clingers-on are bad-mouthing us all they can-though they don't share classes. And Atali isn't that loveable..." Heather shook her head.

"You know, it's obvious as soon as you get out of her circle of influence, how bitchy and mean-spirited she is," she added.

"The guys are a menace," Fishlegs said firmly. He didn't share Phys Ed class with Astrid, Hiccup and Heather so he had only had the text of what happened-and the lurid reports on BerkBook to go on. "I mean, I know they have detention but that is already being laughed off as cool and heroic...because they picked on that one-legged kid..." Astrid rolled her eyes.

"What is wrong with people?" she growled. "I mean, why do they judge someone who is amazing and smart and sassy by what he doesn't have rather than what he does?" Hiccup looked at her: though she was angry, there were tears just glimmering in her gaze and he gently brushed her hand.

"It's okay," he said.

"No, it's not!" she snapped. Then she blinked. "It's not. They targeted you and they targeted me when we had suffered serious losses. These people are just...vermin..."

"Eek eek..." Ruff quipped as Astrid face-palmed.

"Sorry," she murmured. "I'm just so angry that everyone makes excuses and looks up to them because they're popular..." Quietly, Hiccup wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay," he reassured her. She leaned against him and closed his eyes.

"No, it isn't," she whispered. Then he leaned his head against hers.

"If you want to make them feel bad, then you have to remove the thing they treasure the most," he murmured. The others stared at him.

"And what's that?" Tuff asked. "Oh, let me guess. Atali's ponytail? Eret's ponytail? Anyone's ponytail? Thuggory's lucky plush rabbit...?"

"What?" Fishlegs choked.

"It's true-I've seen it," Dagur confirmed. "I could always kidnap the bunny and we could impale it on the spire of St Bertha's Church..." Heather stared at him.

"First up...why?" she asked.

"Well, it would be pretty obvious..." her brother told her with a grin.

"If you didn't break your neck in the process..." Heather pointed out.

"I could get up there," Tuff confirmed. "I can get all sorts of weird places..."

"And he'd just deny it," Ruff put in. Hiccup shook his head.

"They crave admiration and attention," he said. "So we deprive them of that." Astrid sighed.

"How?" she asked with a sigh. "No matter what anyone says or what common decency would dictate, people keep looking to her." Hiccup looked over at his friends.

"Between us, we have more than enough smarts, looks, cunning, determination and plain craziness to do it," he said with a small smile. "Between us, we can take the school."